Agenda a show by Arthur Golyakov at Plague Space, Krasnodar

Exhibition title: Agenda
Dates: 12.02.22 — 12.03.22
Artist: Arthur Golyakov
Curator: Underground Flower
Photo: Vanya Venmer
Text by Torre Alain & Arthur Golyakov

It’s said that ancient hunters kept track of the animals they hunted by marking them off with a single stroke,
maybe on a cave wall or on the weapon they used.
The animal is represented by a ‘one’, and the hunter counts his first kill as ‘one, one’.

The difference between the two is that the first exists in isolation and the second is linked to a chain in which the subject has to find their place.

This chain grows every day and in all directions, as our hunger grows again as soon as the meal is finished.

“The subject himself is marked off by the single stroke, and first he marks himself as a tattoo, the first of the signifiers. When this “one” is established – the counting is one, one. This is where the subject must find himself.”
(Jaques Lacan)

A lucky man escapes from the same trap, again and again, having set it for himself without even knowing why.

One, two, Johnny goes Carrying a sack of flour.
Mother rejoices, for she will bake biscuits

But Mother did not bake the biscuits, Johnny has jumped into Hell.
Now mother baked the biscuits, Johnny has jumped out of Hell.

(folk rhyme)

Torre Alain, 2022

170×140 door
Chicken
Tomato paste
Sour cream
Pasta
Cheese
Tomatoes

If you cut off a hydra’s head, two heads will grow in its place, if you cut them off too, four will grow, then eight…the hydra is defeated by fire. What if you keep chopping off her heads? I wonder after which number will the heads start interfering with each other? And how many necks on its body can it bear? An octopus, or something similar, unravels its tentacles in all directions.

Grasp and grab.
Bed.
Faucet.
A new job.
Office.
The door.

Arthur Golyakov, 2019/2022